We got Verizon FIOS
installed the week before we moved. Prior to that we decided this
closet in our basement would make a perfect network closet for our
network/computer equipment. For the most part it works pretty
well, but we've decided we need a little more. We'd like to add a
patch panel so we can run network cable to our kitchen and our
"office" upstairs. That would give us greater flexibility in
our network options (more on that
later)
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There's too many other more important projects
right now to really start this one, but we have begun to accumulate
some of the necessary parts. we have tons of wire, wire housing,
patch panel, plugs etc. Stay tuned for more
updates.
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Finally we started on the home network
construction. The first step was to cut access holes in the "network
closet" and office for
the cabling.
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Of
course it wasn't until after I got all the holes cut, I read you
shouldn't locate data cables within five feet of electric wire.
Though as you see above, the Verizon guy did (Verizon installed the
single network jack you see
above).
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The
next step was running the cable. In the ceiling downstairs I ran the
cable through flexible conduit to hopefully keep the mice from it
and keep the install a little neater. There's already enough
spaghetti wiring in the
ceiling.
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Currently there's four cables going from the
closet to the office. The next phase will add four more from the
closet to the
kitchen.
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I
got back to work on the home network. I wired one end of the cables
to this patch panel we "aquired." No we'll never use the 48 jacks,
but the price was right. The orange wire from the wall is our
source. That's our broadband coming in. It is wired into the #1 jack
on the patch panel, which goes to the #1 jack in the office
upstairs. From the #1 jack upstairs, the cable connects to our
wireless router. The #2 #3 jacks and cables run from the router back
downstairs through the patch panel to power our computer and network
storage device. The #4 jack/cable is currently free. There are only
four jacks/cables running between the closet downstairs and the
office upstairs. If you didn't get all that the first, it's ok. It
took me a little while to understand the concept myself.
Basically we needed the router upstairs to get better
reception with the wireless. The network and patch panel allow us to
put the router upstairs and run things (that are not wireless) off
of it
downstairs.
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Here's the whole
setup in our network closet
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And
here's the setup in the office. We have the four network jacks, a
phone line and power. This project isn't totally complete, since I'd
like to run four cables to the kitchen. But that part of the project
will be put on hold until we get some other things done in the floor
beneath the
kitchen.
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November 17, 2007 I'm now required to have
some early morning meetings with the office in India. With the puppy
around, the best way to do that is from the comfort of my own
kitchen. The meetings are done completely online with
headphones, microphones, PC sharing, etc. All that takes a lot of
reliable bandwidth. Normally I just use the wireless when I'm
working from home, but the signal may not always be reliable enough.
Having my VPN drop out in the middle of an online meeting would be
bad, so it's time to finish the home network project.
The plan is to take
this receptacle and make it something like the one above - without
the phone jack.
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- More -
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